Yuga cycle
The precision of the equinoxes is the period of time that it takes the Earth’s axis to pass through one complete cycle of the zodiac. It takes the planets 72 years to pass through one degree of the zodiac and 25,920 years to complete one full circle of 360 degrees. One half of the journey takes 12,960 years and covers the four yugas. Satya yuga lasts 5184 years, Treta yuga lasts 3888 years, Dwaparayuga lasts 2592 years. Kali Yuga will last up to 1296 years. These four yugas taken together come to a total of 12,960 years. For Hindus, the concept of time is cyclical. Time has been designed in for yugas of ages. Satyuga, Tretyuga, Dwaparayuga, and Kaliyuga. Each yuga represents a distant characteristic in the cycle, and has varying levels of virtue and morality. And the biggest shift has been in humans and the actions of humanity. The list of 4 yugas and how the nature of humans and their actions changed.
Satyuga
Satyuga was the first and the most virtuous age in the cycle of the Hindu clock. It it’s said that Satyug lasted for about 17,28,000 years and was marked by the highest standards of morality, righteousness, and spirituality. The name Satya meant truth, and during that yuga, truth and virtue were above all. During the Satyug, humans were pure, and their nature was the epitome of goodness. They were honest, virtuous, and lived in harmony with nature and each other. During the Satyug, there was no concept of crime, deceit, or falsehood, and humans were spiritually advanced, closest to god, and had no deceit in their hearts. Satyuga was the era of saints and sages, and the society was free from the pollution of body and mind.
Tretayuga
Tretayuga has come after Satyug and is ago last around 12,96,000 years old. As compared to Satyug, Tretayug was a slight detour from honesty and virtue. During the Tretayuga, the nature of humans changes a little, and while truth and righteousness were still on top, there was the new concept of desire. It is said that with the emergence of desire, there came ego and ambition. Humans started to perform rituals and sacrifices to maintain their connection with the divine, and while people were still mentally powerful, their desire often became a hurdle. The biggest event of Tretayuga was the occurrence of Ramayana, an epic that now highlights the ideals of duty, loyalty, and the struggle against evil.
Dwaparayga
Dwaparayuga, the third age in a cycle, lasts for 8,64,000 2,400 years, and its main period lasts for 72,000 years, and its two twilights each last for 72,000years. Dwaparayuga is derived from the Sanskrit term dwa, which means two, and apara, which means after; therefore, dwaparayuga means the age after the two. As per Bhagavata, during this age, the dharma bull, which represents morality, stands on two legs, Daya and Satya. Dwaparayuga is described in the Mahabharata, Manusmriti, Surya Siddhanta, Vishnu Smriti, and various Puranas. In this era, the divine intellect ceases to exist, and it’s therefore seldom that anyone is wholly truthful. As a result of this life of deceit, people are plagued by ailments, diseases, and various types of desires. After suffering from these ailments, people realize their misdeeds and perform penance. Some also organize Yajnas for material benefits as well as for divinity. According to the Puranas, this yuga ended when Krishna returned to his eternal abode of Vaikuntha. There are only two pillars of religion during the Dwaparayuga: compassion and truthfulness. Vishnu assumes the color yellow, and the Vedas are categorized into four parts: Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda.
Kali Yuga
The fourth, shortest, and the worst of all yugas, which describes our present, which is full of conflict and sin. Kali yuga refers to the age of Kali, the age of darkness, the age of vice and misery, or the age of quarrel and hypocrisy. A complete description of the Kali Yuga is found in the Mahabharata and also in various Puranas. According to the Puranic sources, Krishna’s death marked the end of the Dwaparayuga and the start of the Kali yuga, which is dated to 17/18 February 3102 BCE. Lasting for 432,000 years, 1,200. Years, Kali Yuga began 5,126 Years ago, and had 426,784 years left as of 2025. Kali Yuga will end in the year 428,899. CE. Near the end of Kali Yuga, when virtues are at their worst, a cataclysm and a re-establishment of dharma occur to usher in the next cycle’s Kritayuga, prophesied to occur by Kalki. Hinduism often represents morality as an Indian bull. In the Satya yuga, the first stage of development, the bull has four legs, which are reduced by one in each age that follows. The four legs of dharna are tapas, austerity; sauca, cleanliness; Daya, compassion; and Satya, truth. By the age of Kali, morality is reduced to only a quarter of that of the given age. So that the bull of Dharma has only one leg, the one representing Satya. The Kurukshetra war and the decimation of the Kauravas thus happened in the yuga Sandhu, the point of transition from one yuga to another. A discourse by Markendaya in the Mahabharata identifies some of the attributes of people, animals, nature, and weather during the Kali Yuga. Mahabharata: the story of every human being. The story begins because you have a false idea about yourself. The Mahabharata represents the grand misconception of human beings about life. Their sufferings, their rises and falls. It goes on and on, simply because human beings are struggling to come in tune with life. Whatever someone who is in tune with it tries to say, everyone else will misunderstand. Light cannot be put into words, but if you open your eyes, you can see the light. Similarly, this that you are opens up, it can feel like it can become life. The whole Mahabharata is just this effort; no matter what they are doing, it is for the good. Whether it is my good, your good, someone else’s good, or everyone else’s good, whatever kind of good, everyone thinks they are doing it for the good, but everyone is neither good nor bad. Neither right nor wrong, the story just goes on. However, it’s not about a particular person Mahabharata comes under the classification of itihasa. The facts have been rooted in history, but this is the story of every human being; it's about the meaning of life. Not only is it your story, it can be a process of growth for you.
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